J.K. Rowling has paid a touching tribute to the late Alan Rickman who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film adaptations.

A fan wrote on Twitter that saying goodbye to Snape's character continues to be difficult on the four-year anniversary of his death.

Alan Rickman and J.K. Rowling in 2013. (Getty)

"Tonight in Italy they air Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part 2. As always, I'm NOT ready to say goodbye to Severus Snape. Thank you @jk_rowling for this unique character and for convincing Alan Rickman to portray him — we had the perfect Severus Snape," the fan wrote.

Rowling responded, "In Harry Potter & the Cursed Child, Snape makes his first appearance with his back to the audience. At the dress rehearsal I saw him in his long black wig & my eyes filled with tears because, for a split second, my irrational heart believed when Snape turned around, I'd see Alan."

Rickman died on January 13, 2016 at the age of 69 after battling pancreatic cancer.

In an interview with Rickman that was published days after his death, he reflected on his eight years playing Snape in the Harry Potter franchise..

"It was a punctuation mark in my life every year because I would be doing other things but always come back to that, and I was always aware of my place in the story even as others around me were not," Rickman told The Los Angeles Times.

"Am I sad? The point about a great story is that it's got a beginning, a middle and end. The ending of this story was quite popular and beautifully judged by Jo Rowling and David Yates, so it's not a cause for sadness; it's a cause for celebration that it was rounded off so well."